Breech mechanism of ordnance



A. T. DAWSON AND vG. T. BUCKHATVI.

BREECH MECHANISM OF ORDNANCE.

APPLICATION FILED APPL-19x 1918.

A. T. DAWSON AND G. T. BUCKHAM.

BREECH MECHANISM 0F ORDNANCE,

APPLICATION FILED APR.19, |918.

Pafnie Apr. i3, E926.,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

n T. DAWSGN AND (i. l BUCKHM.

BREECH vECHNISW 0F ORDNANCE.

Patented Apr. 13,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3. /-QIZ FILED APR. 19, ,1918.

EN am@ f'PPLlCATlON uNrrn T OFFRE Tnnvon DAWSON AND GEORGE THOMAS BUCKIIAM, or wnsTivLINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND, AssIGNoRs To UNITED STATES ORDNANCE ooiyrraNY, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT or COLUMBIA, a. CORPORATION or VIRGINIA.

BREECH MECHANISM OF ORDINANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.-

Applicaton led April 19, 1918. Serial No. 229,644.

To' alla/)hom t may concern Be it known that we, Sir ARTHUR Tnnvon DAWSON, knight, and Sir GEORGE THOMAS BUCKHaM, knight, both subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at Vickers House, Broadway, Westminster, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new andA useful Improvements in or Relating to the Breech Mechanism of Ordnance, of which the following is aspeci-ication. p

This invention relates to ordnance breech mechanism of the swinging breech-screw carrier type.

According to the invention we provide means whereby in the event of the breech actuating handlever, when it comes forcibly against the usual stop at the completion of the locking movement of the breech screw, commencing to rebound so as to unintentionally unlock or partly uniock the breech' screw, will be automatically restrained and returned into contact with and held against the said stop. The said means preferably comprise a spring controlled catch which is carried by the handlever and which, when the latter is about to strike the stop, comes into contact with a projection on the carrier and is thereby caused positively to assume such a position in relation to a secondl projection on the carrier that when the handlever strikes its stop and attempts to rebound, it is returned into contact with the stop by the cooperation of an inclined surface on the catch with a corresponding Surface on the said second projection, this cooperation taking place under the influence of the spring of the catch. The catchmay have a toe piece which, when the handlever lies against the stop, is disposed in a slot in the carrier, and which during the opening and' closing movements of the handlever travels in' contact with the wall of the hole in which the actuating shaft is disposed. In thismanner the catch is retained in its depressed or inoperative position until the handlever approaches its stop and the toe piece becomes free to reenter the slot in the carrier, whereupon the catch is positively moved as above described to prevent rebound. The handlever may be detachably connected to its shaft by a key and keyway contriva-nce and may be so formed as to re- Vtain the actuating 'shaft in position in the carrier; the handlever may for example have a hook-shaped projection normally engaging in a groove in the carrier.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect we will describe the same more fully with reference to the accompanyingr drawings, in which i Figure l is a rear elevation of the breech end of a gun showing the breech actuating handlever provided with a constructional form of the aforesaid spring catch and its associated parts and also showingv the means for detachably connecting the handlever to its actuating shaft and the means for retaining the actuating shaft in position in the carrier.

Fig'. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. l with part thereof in section on the line 2, 2 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the handlever and its associated parts.

Fig. 4 is a section taken approximately on the line i, et of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a. section taken approximately on the line 5, 5 of Fig. 3.

Figs. 6 and 7 are views similar to Fig. 5' (with the hanf-'liever broken away) Showing the handlever and its shaft in different positions during dismantling.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the handlever to illustrate how the catch is removed therefrom, and

Figs. 9 to l5 are sectional side elevations showing' the handlever and its catch. in difn ferent positions hereinafter referred to.

is part of the carrier and A the handlever stop thereon. B is the breech actuating handlever, b is the .hook-shaped projec-v tion thereon engaging 1n a groove t inthe carrier and B is the shaft to which this lever is connected. C is the catch carried by the breech actuating handlever B and C is the toe-piece thereon which is disposed in a Slot a in the carrier when the, handlever lieS against the stop A. D, D are the proj jections 011 the carrier with which a partl (Pof the catch C engages.

The inner portion of the handlev'er B is formed with longitudinal iins b", b* en 4'aging in grooves 5"?, b* in the outer en l of the shaft B', and a retaining screw Bx is provided for preventing unintentional sliding movement of the handlever from occury ring. To dismantle the handlever and the shaft, the retaining screw BX is removed and the handlever is slid until the hook- Shaped projection Z) thereon is free of its groove a in the carrier as shown by Fig. G. The handlever and the actuating shaft can then be Withdrawn from the carrier (sec Fig. 7) and if it is desired to remove the handlever from the shaft lthis can be effected by merely sliding the handlever until its fins ZJ", bx are clear of the grooves X X in the outer end of the shaft.

The aforesaid catch C is detachably held in position in the handlever 4B by an eXtension 02 on its outer end entering a recess L (Fig. 8) in the outer end of the handlever and by a key-piece 0' on its inner end engaging in a recess in the handlever. The spring 3 of the catch bears at its outer end against the catch and at its inner end against a bloclr C4 which is connected to the handlever, for example by a detachable transverse pin c* (Figs. 2 and 5) passing through a hole 53X in the handlever, `a slot 02 in the catch and a hole ci* in vthe block. By removing this pin', the catch can. be slid inward until the extension c2 and the key-piecer c on the catch become disengaged from the handlever, whereupon the catch together with its spring can be removed as a single unit by a bodily transverse movement through a slot or gap in the handlever, as shown by Fig. S.

W'hen the handlever B is approaching the locked position as shown by Fig. l2 and is about to come forcibly against the stopy A, the part C2 of the catch C strikes against the project-ion D and the catch is thereby positively displaced into the position shown by Fig. 13. Then the handlever then strikes the stop A and attempts to rebound as shown by Fig. 14, it is returned into contact with the stop (see Fig. 15) by the inclined surface on the part C2 cooperating With a corresponding surface on the projection D, under they influence of the spring C3, 'the toe-piece C then entering into the slot a in the carrier.

When it is desired to open the breech, the catch C is moved, by downward pressure of the operators hand against a lateral projection Cx at the outer end thereof, into the position shown in Fig. y9 to bring the toepiece C clear of its slot r, this movement of the catch taking place against the resistance of the spring C3. The handlever is then moved away from the stop A', the operator continuing to exert downward pressure on the lateral projection Cx of the catch to bring the part C2 clear of the projection D (see Fig. 10). When the part C2 is fully clear of the projection D as shown by Fig. 11, the toe-piece C Will have moved away fromthe slot a. in the carrier and the down- Ward pressure of the operators h and on the lateral projection C need then no longer be exerted as the catch is held in its disengaged position by Contact of the toe-piece C with the wall of the hole in Which the shaft B is disposed. The said toe-piece travels in contact with this Wall until the handlever resumes` its position against the stop A as hereinbefore described.

`What We claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. The combination With a breech loading gun, of a breech actuating handlever, a stop for limiting locking movement of the lever, a second stop, and means cooperating with the second stop to initially restrain rebounding of the lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly into contact with the first stop and thereafter to return and hold said lever against the first stop.

2. The combination with a breech loading gun, of a breech actuating hand lever, a stop for limiting locking movement of the lever, a second stop, and means carried -by the lever coperating With the second stop to initially restrain rebounding of the lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly in contact with the first stop and thereafter to return and hold said lever against the first stop.

3. The combination with a breech loading gun, of a carrier, a breech actuating handlever, a stop for limiting locking movement of the lever, a second stop located on the carrier, and means cooperating with the stop on the carrier to initially restrain rebounding of the lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly into contact with the first stop and thereafter to restrain and hold said lever against the first stop.

4. The combination With a breech loading gun, of a carrier, a breech actuating handlever. a stop for limiting locking movement of the lever, a second stop located on the carrier, and means carried by the hand lever cooperating With the stop on the carrier to initially restrain rebounding of the lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly into contact with the first stop and thereafter to return and hold said lever against the first stop.

5. The combination with a breech load- 115 ing gun, of a breech actuating handlever,

a stop for limiting locking movement of the lever, a second stop having an inclined surface; and a spring actuated member coperating with said inclined surface to ini- 120 tially restrain rebounding of the lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly into contact with the first stop and thereafter to return and hold said lever against the first sto 6r.) The combination with a breech loading gun, of a breech actuating handlever, a stop for limiting locking movement of the lever, a second stop having an inclined surface, and a' spring actuated member car-180 ried by the lever coperating With said inclined surface to initially restrain rebounding of the lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly into contact with the first stop and thereafter to return and hold said lever against the first stop.

T. The combination with a breech loading gun, of a carrier, a breech actuating hand lever, a stop for limiting locking movement of the lever, a second stop on the carrier having an inclined surface7 and a spring actuated member cooperating with said inclined surface to initially restrain rebounding of the lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly into contact with the first stop and thereafter to return and hold said lever against the irst stop.

8. The combination with a breech loading gun, of a breech actuating handlever, a stop for limiting locking movement of the lever, a secon-d stop, a spring actuated catch carried by the lever and adapted to coperate with the second stop to initially restrain rebounding of the lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly into contact with the first stop and thereafter to restrain and hold said lever against the first stop, means normally holding said catch in retracted position during opening and closing movements the handlever, and means releasing'the catch for coperation with the second stop upon predetermined closing movement of the handlever.

9. The combination with a breech loading gun, of a carrier, a breech actuating lever as a result of the latter coming forcibly into Contact With the first stop and thereafter to return and hold said lever against the first stop, and a toe on the catch interlocked With the carrier during open-A ing and closing` movements of the handlever to hold said catch in retracted position and released from engagement with the carrier upon predetermined movement of the handlever to permit said catch to move into cooperative engagement With the second stop.

l0. The combination with a breech loading gun, of a carrier, a breech operating shaft rotatably and detachably supported by the carrier, and a handlever carried by the shaft and interlocked with the carrier whereby the breech operating shaft is held in position on the carrier by the handlever.

1l. The combination with a breech loading gun7 of a carrier, a breech operating shaft rotatably and detachably supported by the carrier, and a handlever carried by the shaft and interlocked with the carrier whereby the breech operating shaft is held in position on the carrier by the handlever, said handlever being disengageable from the carrier by movement transversely of and relative to the shaft.

12. The combination with a breech loading gun, of a carrier, a breech operating shaft rotatably and detachably supported by the carrier, a handlever carried by the shaft, and a hook-shaped lateral projection on the lever engaged in a groove on the carrier whereby the breech operating shaft is held in position on the carrier by the hand lever.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON. GEORGE THOMAS BUOKHAM. 

